I remember a few years ago when I used to frequent chat rooms daily. Now, when I go on to two, you get about a billion PM’s asking you to show your tits on cam, using retarded grammar and cyber spelling.
What the hell.
If you’re going to ask to see my tits, at least ask with proper grammar and spelling.
Where did the good conversations go? You know, the ones where people actually typed correctly and shit. When you didn’t have to spend a minute decoding what someone was saying because they used so many fucking acronyms.
It’s annoying as fucking hell.
P.S.
Anyone know any good chatrooms that seem to have frequent visitors with proper spelling and shit? O:
If you would be inclined to share photographs of your local avian population, I would be very grateful.
Respectfully,
Rhythm
I haven’t been to a chatroom regularly in ages–probably since the late nineties. Even then it was the (relatively) rare room that had conversations. Finding a niche room with good moderation and a persistent community really helped. Now, I mostly use tech-support rooms and specialty places where forums don’t serve the immediate need.
Come to think of it, the chat world is very much like the forum world – most is crap, and most make me appreciate the Dope.
Callahans on Undernet would be the only one I’d recommend. Lots of cool, intelligent people there. The basic premise is that it’s a virtual bar, like in Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson. Anyone asks A/S/L in there, and they got kicked. I haven’t been in there in a long time, but made lots of friends, and even met the man I married.
Prithee, fair maiden! Wouldst thou not be inclined to grace our good company with the briefest of glimpses of thine bodacious ta-tas? Forsooth, we wouldst all be most grateful.
I remember a decade ago when I used to frequent chat rooms daily. Now, when I go on to two, you get a billion grammar nazis asking you to capitalize your Ns and telling you how to say what you said while they sit haughtily on their rolling office-chair thrones diagramming sentences with the blood of their victims.
What the hell.
Where did the good conversations go? You know, the ones where people actually conversed instead of judging each other’s typing habits. When everyone was just another interesting person to talk to, not potential grammaticrats waiting to pounce. When you could just speak and have the other party actually listen instead of calling you out for having used one extra punctuation mark.
It’s annoying as fucking hell.
P.S. I’m sorry my SAT verbal score wasn’t high enough to bring honor to your chest, but what the hell makes A/S/L inferior to all the fucking modern slang you used and shit? O:
I was just wondering this myself, actually. I frequented the same place online (it was kinda like the Dope of chat rooms, in that the culture expressly encouraged proper English and good if off-the-wall behavior) for several years in the mid to late 90s, but it died a death of neglect around 1999-2000–people just stopped showing up.
IMO in the very early days of AOL (gasp) I had some pretty decent chats online. Not SDMB good usually, but often as good as what you’d find in a “forced” social situation like a birthday party or neighborhood party, and sometimes better.
Yeah, there were the horny trolls, the assholes, and the people whose grammar/reasoning skills/education/knowledge was SO bad it was amazing and often unintelligble. But those people were a tolerable minority.
Not sure how chat is these days, but I get the impression its pretty bad.
“Oh beautiful babes from England, for whom we have travelled through time - will you come to the prom in San Dimas with us? We will have a most excellent time!”
I’ve had many conversations in chat that were at least as worthwhile as the majority of the ones I’ve had here. But it’s been a long time. I’ve been on the Net since 1988 (via The World at Software Tool and Die and later ChiNet) and yes, the average intelligence of the net population has been declining, with a precipitous drop with the “September That Never Ended”. But it was the take-over gangs that really killed IRC, causing splits so they could become ops of as many channels as possible. It became too much trouble.
Personally, why would I want to continue a conversation where I’m asked three really annoying questions in a really annoying way right off the bat? Especially since I know that the only answers most chatters who ask really want are 18/f/near you?
My roomie of the time participated in a mIRC chat room for Babylon 5 that went on at the same time it was showed on TV, and it was actually fairly well run from what I remember. It tapered off fairly quickly after the series ended.
I now get my online conversations with my guild/corp mates in online games, or on the SD, or Baen’s Bar, or CustomersSuck, or CruiseCritics. My main email conversations are on the lois Bujold list, and with individuals.